Sadly my uncle died in 1974 from wounds he recieved in the war, he was in the Royal Air Force, and was Lord Wingates (leader of the Chindits) navigator in Burma, when he flew to various areas. On the day Wingate was killed my uncles aircraft (Dakota) was U/S. Whilst in Burma my uncle had his cap badge copied and made out of Ivory, which he wore throughout the rest of WW11 and afterwards, totally non regulation, but it did not do him any harm as he was awarded an MBE. The airplane was made by a friend of my uncles, whilst an RAF prisoner of war in a Japanese POW camp. My uncle did not say much about the war, but a story he did tell was that he was a nose gunner in a Wellington bomber early in WW11, and was on a raid over Germany, as he turned the nose gun fully to one side his parachute harness caught on the rear turret door which opened and he partly fell out, hanging outside in front of the propeller. No one else in the crew knew this was happening, and he spent ages trying to climb back in, which he eventually did. He was later wounded by shrapnel when on another bombing raid in a Wellington, and although he went back to war these wounds eventually caught up with him and he died in 1974. The photo shows my uncle, on the right, at my parents wedding in Gibralter.

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Comments

Bootson, 3 years agoThanks for posting so quickly. I googled Chindits and I can see I have some gripping reading to do. Your uncle b, being Wingate's navigator must been there for much of it. Sounds as if he was fortunate to have survived the the war at all, by almost 30 years too.

Nice wedding picture, a good looking bunch, and happy.
Were they married during or after the war?

petey, 3 years agoHi Booston, they were married in 1953. My dad was in Coastal Command, flying Shackletons.

Chrisnp, 3 years agoGreat family history, and family items. I imagine the ivory cap badge got some off looks, but very cool.